Case of alleged rape by New York officers calls police loophole into question

Associated Press
Mon 19 Feb 2018 17.01 GMT

The 18-year-old woman was driving with two friends near Coney Island in September when the two plainclothes detectives pulled her over and found marijuana. The officers released the two male passengers, handcuffed the woman and told her she was under arrest, prosecutors say.

Then, investigators say, detectives Eddie Martins and Richard Hall repeatedly sexually assaulted her before releasing her. The woman went to the hospital, where prosecutors say DNA was obtained that matched both men.

But the officers have pleaded not guilty to rape and other charges, and the case has highlighted an apparent loophole in the laws of New York and many other states that may allow police to escape sexual assault charges by claiming sex acts were consensual. While New York law already bars sexual contact between corrections workers and inmates, it doesn’t apply explicitly to police.

“I was shocked,” the Democratic state senator Diane Savino said of when she learned of the oversight. “It should be clear across the state for officers from every department, that when someone is in custody they do not have the ability to consent to sexual activity.”

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